An old typed short story of mine I found in a box called “The Basement,” which was written in 1990. The featured image for this post, which is the typewriter that appears in the little box to the left, was my second typewriter — Dad bought it in 1987 to replace the old 1960s model Selectric I had been using. It had data storage capabilities and was really quite the thing in its day. It broke my heart to toss it, but honestly, it was broken beyond repair. I loved it to death.

Yes.

Why? We keep everything. Notes for stories, seventeen drafts as a piece went through its critique process, research, books, photographs and other ephemera which may have inspired works, more books, multiple copies and print-outs of magazines, anthologies, and e-zines in which our work has appeared, letters and cards from admirers, notebooks full of advice from workshops, even more books.

Recently, I decided to go through and start lightening my load, and I discovered it’s Read the rest of this entry →